Swimming device



A. B; SAMUELS SWIMMING DEVICE Fneq May 28, 1924 l N VEN T OR. 14156910413! SP/was. Q if ATTORNEY.

Patented June 2, 1925.

v 1,540,368 PATENT OFFICE.

ABRAHAM B. SAMUELS, 9F AKRON, OHIO.

SWIMMING- DEVICE.

Application filed May 28,

To all whom it may concern Be. it known that I, ABRAHAM B. Snatunns, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Akron, county of Summit,State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements inSwimming Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to swimming devices and especially to attachmentsfor the hands to aid in swimming,

Heretofore, swimming attachments have been used comprising a pairofplates hinged together and adapted to be attached to the hand to aidin swimming, but these devices 5 are susceptible ofconsid erableimprovement in that prior devices have been fatiguing to the user, hebeing required to effect considerable force in the flexing of the deviceduring use. In devices heretofore constructed, the flexing of the deviceby the hand has caused pinching or abrasion of the flesh by the hingededges of the parts. Furthermore, in known devices of this type, theplates have been flat whereby their efficiency in use has been at aminimum due to the sliding of thewater over the edges of the plateswithout much resistance tending to prevent the same.

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved deviceof the character above described and particularly to provide a devicefor attachment to the hand which will readily collapse as the hand isdrawn forward through the water, which will readily open up when thestroke is taken and which requires little or no effort on the part ofthe swimmer to so act in use, the device, however, permitting the manualflexing of the two parts to substantially right angles when using theoverhead stroke or the like.

An important object of the invention is to form the parts to fit againstthe palm of the hand and to be concave on the inner surface, each partforming one-half of the general concavity of the inner surface of theWllOlG device.

Another and an equally important object is to provide one part, i. e.,that which is normally the lowest in the water, of greater area than theother to facilitate opening of the parts from collapsed condition whenthe stroke is taken.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved means forpreventing pinching or abrasion of the hand by the device used.

182 Serial No. 716,392.

The above and other objects will become more apparent as the followingdetailed description is read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it being understood that the invention is not limited to thespecific form thereof shown and described.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a back plan view of a device embodying the invention in itspreferred form, said device being shown attached to the hand; and

Figure 2 is a side elevation showing the device in opened condition infull line and in collapsed condition in dotted lines.

Referring to the drawings, 10 is the one plate forming a part of thedevice which is adapted to be secured on the'palm of the hand by asuitable device such as the strap 11 secured in any suitable manner onthe plate 10 as by eyes 12, 12 through which the strap is looped, theeyes being soldered or otherwise secured on the plate 10. Hinged on theplate 10 by hinges 13, 13 is a second plate 14: adapted to be securedonto the fingers by a strap 15 secured thereto in the same manner as thestrap 11 is secured to plate 10. A third strap 16 may extend across theback of the hand between the straps 11 and 15.

The plates 10 and 14 are dished or concave on their inner surface, asindicated at 17 and 18, the cooperating portions from hinge to hingebeing, however, substantially straight to permit operation of thehinges. The concave surfaces 17 and 18 cooperate to produce a generalconcavity adapted to facilitate the swimming by greatly increasing theresistance of the plates to motion backwardly through water and bygreatly decreasing the resistance to motion forwardly through the water,the plates being also collapsible together for this purpose.

The plate 14, it is to be noted, is much larger in area than the plate10. This is to the end that when drawing the collapsed platesbackwardly, the resistance of the water will be effective on the largerplate to separate it from the smaller and thereby open the plates to aposition of maximum resistance.

The plate 10 has secured on its hinged edge, as by soldering orotherwise, a metallic strip 19 which extends over the hinged jointbetween the plates and is curved downwardly against the plate 14. Thisstrip prevents rubbing of the hinged edges of the At the completion ofthe stroke and as the hand is drawn forwardly through the water "for thenext-stroke, the plates 10 and 14 001- lapse completely together,offering a minimum resistance to the water not only because of theircollapsed condition but because of their convex'outer surfaces. Just asthe next stroke is started, the resistance of the water on the greaterarea and on the dished inner surface of theplate 11 is such that theplate 11 is opened outwardly from the position shown in dotted lines tothe position shown in full lines in Figure 2.

It is apparent-from the foregoing .that the invention has greatlyimproved existing devices and it will also be apparent thatmodifications of the structure disclosed may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit or losing any of the-benefits thereof andWithout departing from the scope of the appended claims.

VVhatI claim is:

1. Swimming attachments for the hands, comprising a pair of plateshinged together and formed with inner concave surfaces cooperating toform a general inner concavity, one of said plates having a rigid stripsecured on its outer surface, said strip overlying the hinged joint',and means on the outer surfaces of each plate to secure the same to thehand.

2. Swimming attachments for the hands including a pair of platesconnected together, one plate being adapted to bev flexed toward theother by the fingers, said plate being of; greater area than said otherplate, and said plates having inner surfaces soformed as toprovide incooperation a generally concave surface for action on the water.

3. Swimming attachments for the hands,

comprising a pair of plates hinged tQgether and a rigid strip secured onone plate and extending over the'hjnged joint into over lappingrelation'to the other plate;

ABRAHAM B. SAMUELS.

